Penguins Survived when Dinosaurs Died

Penguins Survived when Dinosaurs Died

New analysis of the world's oldest fossil penguins
confirms some birds survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, researchers say.

The penguins once lived in shallow seas off New Zealand's east coast 60 million years ago.

Now a molecular study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, links them closely to modern penguins.

Co-author Associate Professor Ewan Fordyce from the University of Otago says penguins are specialised birds that evolved much later than other
species.

"The fact that they have been found within a few million years of the dinosaurs' extinction is compelling evidence that modern birds must have
evolved earlier and diversified during the time of the dinosaurs," he says.